Town approves Grand Avenue church in Baldwin

The former site of the Wander Inn on Grand Avenue will soon become a church.

Anthony O'Reilly/Herald

What is the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act?

Under Section 2 of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, municipalities are barred from imposing land-use or zoning restrictions that place a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person or institution. A municipality can only impose such restrictions if it can show it has a compelling interest do so, and if the land-use action is the least restrictive way for the government to further that interest, according to the Department of Justice.

The act also prohibits governments from blocking houses of worships in any area or jurisdiction for any reason, such as trying to preserve tax revenue, the DOJ states on its website.

U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Republican from Ohio, introduced the law after the Supreme Court deemed parts of a former iteration of it, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, unconstitutional in 1997. The 1993 law sought to protect the freedom of religion in land-use cases and other matters by stating that a government could not burden a person’s exercise of religion. It was introduced after the Supreme Court ruled a road could be built through a sacred Native American ground in California, despite opposition from three tribes.

The Supreme Court found the RFRA unconstitutional in its applicability to states in 1997, saying Congress overstepped its powers when it created the law. The ruling was handed down after the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Antonio sued the city of Boerne, Texas, when the latter denied an application for the expansion of a historically landmarked church.

The RLUIPA was unanimously passed in 2000 and signed by President Clinton in response to the ruling. Unlike RFRA, which applied to almost all aspects of the law, it only applies to land-use matters and cases where prisoners believe their right to exercise their religion has been blocked.

The Town of Hempstead Board of Appeals on Aug. 22 unanimously approved an application to allow a church at the former site of the Wander Inn, at 2880 Grand Ave. The Rev. Cesar Morataya, pastor of the Uniondale-based congregation Centro Biblico Casa de Restauracion, said he hoped to move the church to Baldwin by the end of the year.

Many Baldwinites spoke in opposition to the church at a July 18 public hearing, saying there were too many churches on Grand Avenue, which has six between Ethel T. Kloberg Drive and Sunrise Highway. Susan Cools, a resident who spoke at the hearing, said she was disappointed with the board’s decision.

“As I testified that day, I think this is unfortunate for our community,” Cools said. “In a town where we have little commercial property, to lose properties like that off our tax roll is very damaging to the community.”

Erik Mahler, president of the Baldwin Chamber of Commerce, said the Wander Inn paid high taxes — one of the reasons it was forced to close in 2017. He said he was worried about how the church’s tax-exempt status might affect other businesses in Baldwin. “It’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Mahler said. “Now that property will be taken off the tax roll, which will increase the taxes for all the other properties.”

The decision, though disappointing to residents, did not come as a surprise, as Board of Appeals Chairman David Weiss had indicated in July that the board would approve it because the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 prohibits the denial of such a proposal (see box). “Even though there was an incredible amount of opposition, the opposition’s objections are not well-founded because it’s not a criteria we can use to deny any type of religious use,” Weiss said at the hearing.

Morataya’s church opened eight years ago, and is a member of the Freeport Bible Center. The building that housed the Wander Inn from 1952 to 2017, he said, is falling apart, and he plans to repair it. The congregation has about 70 members from Baldwin, Morataya said.

The application also included a variance for parking requirements — it will provide about 30 fewer spaces than required — which was approved.

Under the board’s decision, counseling and rehabilitation services of any kind are prohibited at the Grand Avenue site, as are any catered functions. Centro Biblico cannot lease or rent the site to any other entity. Morataya told the board that anyone in need of counseling services would be directed elsewhere by the church. “We have some groups in Brooklyn that we work with,” he said.

Coming to Baldwin was never part of Morataya’s plan, he said, but he believes God led him to the community. “We were looking in other places,” he said. Having a permanent church, he said, is a dream that he and his wife, Rosa, have had for years. Thus far they have rented space in Uniondale, where their 125 members have met and prayed every week.

Some residents who spoke at the July hearing criticized the church for a lack of communication, saying they learned about the plans and details of the congregation for the first time through the Herald. “When you don’t have much community outreach . . . and we’re learning about your congregation through the media, it’s a little concerning,” resident Julie Leake said.

Services will be held on Sundays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and Wednesdays from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m., with the latter being a smaller service, according to Christian Brown, the attorney who represented the church in its application to the town.